1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 208: Humanitas

Antonius got a little bit of mental shock after handling three trials which all ended in the final punishment of beheading. Overwhelmed by the pouring in of never ending stories and statements of ridiculous monstrous cruelty by these land lords, his mind is some what traumatised imaging all of those things in his head so far until he felt like vomiting. Yes, even for a young man who went through countless blood sheds, rogue waves and political intrigues, these stories are still a little bit too much for him.

He had no choice but to hand over the position to Anjelo and Abdullah, and went to take a rest as it is already deep into the night. 

He looks up at the blinking stars and forever luminous moon. Suddenly he felt a little bit pity for them, as they had to be up there high in the sky having a clear eagle view towards all the things that are happening beneath them, watching all those bloody disgusting inquity going on. 

It is not that bad being a humble human. 

Although he is tired, but Antonius could not sleep turning again and again on the flax mattress inside his tent. Thinking of himself, thinking of the people he saw today, thinking about the stories, and thinking about his own thoughts before he arrived at the island today.

The tent opposite him is still bright with candles, Antonius knows that the tent belongs to Anna Notaras and her family, who they just saved last night back in Constantinople, which almost feels like a year away. 

Antonius hesitated for a while, but still lifted up his wits since no matter how hard he tries to sleep it is to no avail. He leaved his tent after wearing a robe and took a stroll outside before heading towards Anna's tent. 

"You have not slept yet?" Anna asked upon seeing Antonius, same as usual, is there leaning on the couch reading a book under the vain candle light, where her mother and sister seeing Antonius enter, immediately bowed and excused themselves leaving this place seeing that they need a stroll outside. 

"I can't." Replied Antonius. "You can hardly imagine what have I seen today. All kinds of gruesome acts being done not be a demon, but by a living man, really made me go thinking that if demons walk among us disguised as humans. Still reading? I thought you already had a deteriorating eye sight?"

Anna closed her book and sighed. "My deteriorating eye sight is a punishment casted on me for absorbing too much knowledge It has became a habit of me to read books over night and only sleep when I am feeling sleepy, then waking up around noon the next day."

"I see." Antonius scrubbed his hands seating down on a stool. "Pretty unhealthy life style."

"I know."

""

""

"I have heard about all those trials today." Anna broke the awkward silence. "My brother Jacob went there today actually to spectate the entire thing, and indeed heard many of those shocking stories then he came back telling me about it to purposefully share those stuff with me."

"Naughty kids never learn without a good beating."

Anna ignored him and continued. "I could not believe it too when I first heard about these things from the mouth of Jacob, by Christ's name how can a fellow Christians conduct such crimes against one another? Though soon I came to realise that this, all of these, have nothing to do with any theological theories and the teaching of divine being It is a thing with humanity.

"Humanitas? What is that?"

"Have you read the conscript Pro Archia Poeta, the book in green book cover that I gave to you two month earlier?"

"Uhmm"

"Fine, let me ask you, have you ever read any books ever since we have parted?"

"No."

"Ok fine." Anna sighed. "All of these things we are hearing, it is not because of anything else, it is because of power. When a person gets the complete unrestricted authority over other people in an isolated place without any force from the outside to stop them, the lust and desire of them exerting their power and strength on those poor innocent people grows every day, and slowly it devours them, engulfed their heart and mind, making them gradually turning into a man's flesh eating demon And you know what the biggest reason behind this rapid growth of the dark areas inside their mind is?"

"What? Antonius picked up a fruit from the desk. "His strength?"

"Because he is completely an educated rural area brute." Anna is being harsh this time. "Never realised the need to read a book, never tried to get educated, never attempted to understand what princeps this world works on."

Antonius placed the fruit back onto the table.

"Thus, without getting educated, this land lord has totally no idea about the studies of history, no knowledge of what those tyrants and over lords had done in the past. He also has not studied philosophy, making him totally ignorant towards how people think, how do people feel making him a total brute heartless towards his own country men. Actually, even if you do not intervene this time, this land lord will one day be slain by the Ottomans or Constantine as a method to appease the locals to establish a tighter governance here, or get slain by the locals in a revolt Does chatting these stuff with me soothe your feeling about hearing these stories today?" 

"Yes, thank you Anna." Antonius answered. "But that would be another story, but right now on these isles I am the biggest 'lord' with the strongest force. I shall transform these islands into my frontier military base with the help of these people I saved, transform these islands according to my blue prints." 

"I know nothing about military." Anna replied playing with her hair. "I can only advice you on theological and civilian administration stuff. But still, I would like to advice you that although this era is filled with wars and clashes, you still must allocate some of your focus to your subjects. Do not make them turn against you and then record you in the history documentations as another tyrant." 

Antonius stood up and stretched his back smiling. "I know, have faith, good night."